As John Simon’s insert essay “The Lower Depths” asserts in Criterion’s Blu-ray re-release of Ingmar Bergman’s 1953 masterpiece Sawdust and Tinsel, the title was something of a turning point for the Swedish cinematic titan, who had yet to claim the international reputation he would soon come to be known for. Previous titles Summer Interlude (1951) and Waiting Women (1953) had recently found Bergman compete for Venice’s Golden Lion, and while 1947’s A Ship to India had been part of the Cannes program, it was 1955’s Smiles of a Summer Night which gave him his first crack at the Palme d’Or, while 1957’s Wild Strawberries would take home the Golden Bear in Berlin.…...
- 1/1/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
“The Circus Of Humiliation”
By Raymond Benson
The Criterion Collection has upgraded to Blu-ray their earlier DVD release of Ingmar Bergman’s 1953 feature, Sawdust and Tinsel (titled The Naked Night when the picture was first released theatrically in the U.S.). The visual quality has improved with a new 2K digital restoration that looks razor sharp with gorgeous contrasting black and white imagery, and it comes with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack.
Sawdust was a major step forward in the evolution of Bergman’s filmography, although it was not well-received by Swedish audiences at the time of release. It was most likely deemed too disturbing for what appeared to be a movie about a traveling circus. Note that this was before Bergman’s international breakthrough, which would occur a couple of years later with Smiles of a Summer Night. At the time of Sawdust and Tinsel, Bergman was mostly known just...
By Raymond Benson
The Criterion Collection has upgraded to Blu-ray their earlier DVD release of Ingmar Bergman’s 1953 feature, Sawdust and Tinsel (titled The Naked Night when the picture was first released theatrically in the U.S.). The visual quality has improved with a new 2K digital restoration that looks razor sharp with gorgeous contrasting black and white imagery, and it comes with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack.
Sawdust was a major step forward in the evolution of Bergman’s filmography, although it was not well-received by Swedish audiences at the time of release. It was most likely deemed too disturbing for what appeared to be a movie about a traveling circus. Note that this was before Bergman’s international breakthrough, which would occur a couple of years later with Smiles of a Summer Night. At the time of Sawdust and Tinsel, Bergman was mostly known just...
- 12/13/2018
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Tomorrow is the centenary of the birth of one of cinema’s greatest directors, Ingmar Bergman, and to celebrate, The Criterion Collection has announced of their most expansive releases ever. This November, they will release Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, a 39-film box set comprising nearly all of his work, including 18 films never before released by Criterion. Curated akin to a film festival, the set features Opening, Centerpiece, and Closing Films, with many double features in between. The set also features 11 introductions and over five hours of interviews with the director himself, six making-of documentaries, a 248-page book, and much more.
As we await for its November 20 release, check out an overview from Criterion below, as well as the box art, the trailer, and the full list of films, in curated order. One can also see much more about each release and the special features on the official site.
With the...
As we await for its November 20 release, check out an overview from Criterion below, as well as the box art, the trailer, and the full list of films, in curated order. One can also see much more about each release and the special features on the official site.
With the...
- 7/13/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
July 14 marks the 100th birthday of writer-director Ingmar Bergman, whom Variety declared on Nov. 24, 1954, to be “Sweden’s top director.” Within three years, Bergman went beyond that: He was recognized as one of the top filmmakers in the entire world, thanks to the 1957 duo of “The Seventh Seal” and “Wild Strawberries.” A year later, Carl Dymling, president of Sweden’s leading production unit Svensk Filmindustri, told Variety that “Seventh Seal” marked a new era in moviemaking: “Bergman uses the film much as an author does his book. As a rule, one can’t afford to be too explicit about one’s own feelings in making a picture. But Bergman does it.” The director made global stars of Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow and inspired young filmmakers around the world for decades with his tales of existential crisis, the tenderness and brutality between individuals, and the pleasures and insanity of sex.
- 6/22/2018
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
Aaron, Travis and Tim Leggoe dig into the world of Terry Zwigoff, the Barnes & Noble Sale, predictions and wish lists for October Criterion releases, reactions to the Sean Baker episode, and plenty more. We also have announced a contest so listen carefully.
Episode Notes
8:00 – Sean Baker Reactions
19:00 – Barnes & Noble
30:00 – October Predictions
47:00 – Ghost World
1:10 – Short Takes (The Exterminating Angel, Summer Interlude, Crumb)
1:21:30 – FilmStruck
Episode Links Barnes & Noble Criterion Sale Thora Birch: How Hollywood’s Darling Disappeared Janus Films – The Human Condition Tweet Criterion Close-Up 23: Breaker Morant and Mister Johnson Episode Credits Aaron West: Twitter | Website | Letterboxd Tim Leggoe: Blog | Letterboxd | Twitter Travis Trudell: Twitter | Instagram Criterion Now: Twitter | Facebook Group Criterion Cast: Facebook | Twitter
Music for the show is from Fatboy Roberts’ Geek Remixed project.
Episode Notes
8:00 – Sean Baker Reactions
19:00 – Barnes & Noble
30:00 – October Predictions
47:00 – Ghost World
1:10 – Short Takes (The Exterminating Angel, Summer Interlude, Crumb)
1:21:30 – FilmStruck
Episode Links Barnes & Noble Criterion Sale Thora Birch: How Hollywood’s Darling Disappeared Janus Films – The Human Condition Tweet Criterion Close-Up 23: Breaker Morant and Mister Johnson Episode Credits Aaron West: Twitter | Website | Letterboxd Tim Leggoe: Blog | Letterboxd | Twitter Travis Trudell: Twitter | Instagram Criterion Now: Twitter | Facebook Group Criterion Cast: Facebook | Twitter
Music for the show is from Fatboy Roberts’ Geek Remixed project.
- 7/17/2017
- by Aaron West
- CriterionCast
Aaron, Arik Devens, Scott Nye and Travis Trudell dig into the June Criterion announcements, Ingmar Bergman on FilmStruck, Canoa: A Shameful Memory, Werner Herzog versus Klaus Kinski, Iranian Cinema, and plenty of other topics including the latest news from Criterion and FilmStruck.
Episode Notes
1:50 – June Announcements
34:00 – Ingmar Bergman
43:00 – Canoa: A Shameful Memory
49:00 – Criterion Coming Soon & Misc News Items
53:00 – Short Takes (Burden of Dreams, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The House is Black, For Heaven’s Sake)
1:04:00 – FilmStruck
Episode Links Criterion – Ugetsu Criterion – They Live by Night Criterion – The Marseilles Trilogy Criterion – The Lodger Criterion – Straw Dogs Scott Reviews Ingmar Bergman’s The Devil’s Eye CriterionCast 173 – Ingmar Bergman’s Summer Interlude CriterionCast 174 – Ingmar Bergman’s Summer with Monika CriterionCast 175 – Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night A History of Jazz Podcast Arik Reviews Canoa: A Shameful Memory Albert Brooks Tweet about Lost in America...
Episode Notes
1:50 – June Announcements
34:00 – Ingmar Bergman
43:00 – Canoa: A Shameful Memory
49:00 – Criterion Coming Soon & Misc News Items
53:00 – Short Takes (Burden of Dreams, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The House is Black, For Heaven’s Sake)
1:04:00 – FilmStruck
Episode Links Criterion – Ugetsu Criterion – They Live by Night Criterion – The Marseilles Trilogy Criterion – The Lodger Criterion – Straw Dogs Scott Reviews Ingmar Bergman’s The Devil’s Eye CriterionCast 173 – Ingmar Bergman’s Summer Interlude CriterionCast 174 – Ingmar Bergman’s Summer with Monika CriterionCast 175 – Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night A History of Jazz Podcast Arik Reviews Canoa: A Shameful Memory Albert Brooks Tweet about Lost in America...
- 3/20/2017
- by Aaron West
- CriterionCast
This time on the podcast, Scott is joined by David Blakeslee, Trevor Berrett, and Arik Devens to discuss Ingmar Bergman’s Summer Interlude.
About the film:
Touching on many of the themes that would define the rest of his legendary career—isolation, performance, the inescapability of the past—Ingmar Bergman’s tenth film was a gentle drift toward true mastery. In one of the director’s great early female roles, Maj-Britt Nilsson beguiles as an accomplished ballet dancer haunted by her tragic youthful affair with a shy, handsome student (Birger Malmsten). Her memories of the sunny, rocky shores of Stockholm’s outer archipelago mingle with scenes from her gloomy present, most of them set in the dark backstage environs of the theater where she works. A film that the director considered a creative turning point, Summer Interlude (Sommarlek) is a reverie about life and death that unites Bergman’s love of theater and cinema.
About the film:
Touching on many of the themes that would define the rest of his legendary career—isolation, performance, the inescapability of the past—Ingmar Bergman’s tenth film was a gentle drift toward true mastery. In one of the director’s great early female roles, Maj-Britt Nilsson beguiles as an accomplished ballet dancer haunted by her tragic youthful affair with a shy, handsome student (Birger Malmsten). Her memories of the sunny, rocky shores of Stockholm’s outer archipelago mingle with scenes from her gloomy present, most of them set in the dark backstage environs of the theater where she works. A film that the director considered a creative turning point, Summer Interlude (Sommarlek) is a reverie about life and death that unites Bergman’s love of theater and cinema.
- 6/25/2016
- by Scott Nye
- CriterionCast
Dailies is a round-up of essential film writing, news bits, videos, and other highlights from across the Internet. If you’d like to submit a piece for consideration, get in touch with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @TheFilmStage.
Pedro Costa tells Grasshopper Film his 10 favorite films of the last 10 years.
Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, Jodie Foster, and Paul Schrader give an oral history of Taxi Driver at THR:
We had one screening at the studio in a small screening room for some friends, and then it was shown to the studio. I don’t recall what my friends said, but people were kind of perplexed. I believe it was the next day that the studio saw it and there was a smiling kind of reaction that was very brief. Then I heard word that they were concerned that women wouldn’t like the film. Then,...
Pedro Costa tells Grasshopper Film his 10 favorite films of the last 10 years.
Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, Jodie Foster, and Paul Schrader give an oral history of Taxi Driver at THR:
We had one screening at the studio in a small screening room for some friends, and then it was shown to the studio. I don’t recall what my friends said, but people were kind of perplexed. I believe it was the next day that the studio saw it and there was a smiling kind of reaction that was very brief. Then I heard word that they were concerned that women wouldn’t like the film. Then,...
- 4/11/2016
- by TFS Staff
- The Film Stage
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit the interwebs. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
Christmas, Again (Charles Poekel)
Christmas time is a lonely time for many; a “time of giving” that reminds more than a few of us what we’ve lost. This is the feeling Christmas, Again wades in, as produced, written and directed by Charles Poekel. We follow Noel (Kentucker Audley), who’s selling Christmas trees on a Manhattan curb for the fifth winter in a row. He...
Christmas, Again (Charles Poekel)
Christmas time is a lonely time for many; a “time of giving” that reminds more than a few of us what we’ve lost. This is the feeling Christmas, Again wades in, as produced, written and directed by Charles Poekel. We follow Noel (Kentucker Audley), who’s selling Christmas trees on a Manhattan curb for the fifth winter in a row. He...
- 4/8/2016
- by TFS Staff
- The Film Stage
The Notebook is the North American home for Locarno Film Festival Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian's blog. Chatrian has been writing thoughtful blog entries in Italian on Locarno's website since he took over as Director in late 2012, and now you can find the English translations here on the Notebook as they're published. The Locarno Film Festival will be taking place August 3 - 13. Jacques Rivette in Locarno in 1991 when he received the Pardo d’onore. © Festival del film Locarno 1. Writing as a filmmaker “The only true criticism of a film is another film,” wrote Jacques Rivette, commenting on Ingmar Bergman’s Sommarlek (Summer Interlude) in 1958. He was making his intentions quite clear, and indeed his colleagues of the time recall how he was the first to be sure he would be a filmmaker. So a film cannot be explained in words, but Rivette still tried to put into words his own adventures as a spectator.
- 2/3/2016
- by Carlo Chatrian
- MUBI
Editor's Note: RogerEbert.com is proud to reprint Roger Ebert's 1978 entry from the Encyclopedia Britannica publication "The Great Ideas Today," part of "The Great Books of the Western World." Reprinted with permission from The Great Ideas Today ©1978 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
It's a measure of how completely the Internet has transformed communication that I need to explain, for the benefit of some younger readers, what encyclopedias were: bound editions summing up all available knowledge, delivered to one's home in handsome bound editions. The "Great Books" series zeroed in on books about history, poetry, natural science, math and other fields of study; the "Great Ideas" series was meant to tie all the ideas together, and that was the mission given to Roger when he undertook this piece about film.
Given the venue he was writing for, it's probably wisest to look at Roger's long, wide-ranging piece as a snapshot of the...
It's a measure of how completely the Internet has transformed communication that I need to explain, for the benefit of some younger readers, what encyclopedias were: bound editions summing up all available knowledge, delivered to one's home in handsome bound editions. The "Great Books" series zeroed in on books about history, poetry, natural science, math and other fields of study; the "Great Ideas" series was meant to tie all the ideas together, and that was the mission given to Roger when he undertook this piece about film.
Given the venue he was writing for, it's probably wisest to look at Roger's long, wide-ranging piece as a snapshot of the...
- 2/12/2015
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
When I really began digging into classic cinema, one of the films I started with was Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal, and it wasn't that long ago. According to Netflix, I returned the disc on January 8, 2008 after returning Bergman's Wild Strawberries about a month earlier (I wrote about them both briefly right here). I'd actually received both discs at the same time, but kept Seventh Seal a little longer because it had so truly captured my imagination. I've written about it a few times since, including a review of the Criterion Blu-ray a little over four years ago. I've found Bergman's work captivating ever since, several as a result of the Criterion Collection including reviewing Smiles of a Summer Night, Summer Interlude and Summer with Monica, Fanny and Alexander and The Magician along with my discovery of Persona two years ago, whose two-shot imagery is repeated in a highly...
- 9/24/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Just when you thought there couldn't be anymore deals this year Amazon goes and lowers their prices on several of their Criterion Blu-ray titles, many of which are priced at $17.99 including personal must owns such as Seven Samurai, Stagecoach, 12 Angry Men, Diabolique, The Thin Red Line, The Wages Of Fear, The Great Dictator, The Night of the Hunter, Rashomon, 8 1/2, Last Year at Marienbad and a major favorite of mine... Breathless. There are even some titles available for preorder such as Terry Gilliam's Brazil and Christopher Nolan's Following along with recently released titles such as Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, David Fincher's The Game and Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby. I have broken the titles up into a few categories below based on my personal taste so sort through and give 'em a look and see if you can save a little money on some titles you've been wanting to add to your collection.
- 11/25/2012
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Ingmar Bergman’s impact on the art of film and its ability to serve as layered metaphors for larger existential subjects is evident to say the least, and profound at the most. His films often focused on darker themes like the inevitability of death and the meaning of life (or the possible lack thereof), and one of his most creatively strident ventures into these waters was 1951’s Summer Interlude starring Maj-Britt Nilsson as a disaffected ballerina emotionally stunted after one particularly tragic summer. The film flashes between its feelings of ominous things on the horizon and carefree youth before finally succumbing to its darker side, and with it a suggestion that nothing is so harrowing as to overshadow the rest of one’s life. And while that burst of optimism at the end leaves us with a sense of hope, it quickly crashes on the rocks when we discover that...
- 6/24/2012
- by Lex Walker
- JustPressPlay.net
By Allen Gardner
Harold And Maude (Criterion) Hal Ashby’s masterpiece of black humor centers on a wealthy young man (Bud Cort) who’s obsessed with death and the septuagenarian (Ruth Gordon) with whom he finds true love. As unabashedly romantic as it is quirky, with Cat Stevens supplying one of the great film scores of all-time. Fine support from Vivian Pickles, Cyril Cusack, Charles Tyner, and Ellen Geer. Fine screenplay by Colin Higgins. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Commentary by Hal Ashby biographer Nick Dawson, producer Charles Mulvehill; Illustrated audio excerpts from seminars by Ashby and Higgins; Interview with Cat Stevens. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo.
In Darkness (Sony) Agnieszka Holland’s Ww II epic tells the true story of a sewer worker and petty thief in Nazi-occupied Poland who single-handedly helped hide a group of Jews in the city’s labyrinthine sewer system for the duration of the war.
Harold And Maude (Criterion) Hal Ashby’s masterpiece of black humor centers on a wealthy young man (Bud Cort) who’s obsessed with death and the septuagenarian (Ruth Gordon) with whom he finds true love. As unabashedly romantic as it is quirky, with Cat Stevens supplying one of the great film scores of all-time. Fine support from Vivian Pickles, Cyril Cusack, Charles Tyner, and Ellen Geer. Fine screenplay by Colin Higgins. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Commentary by Hal Ashby biographer Nick Dawson, producer Charles Mulvehill; Illustrated audio excerpts from seminars by Ashby and Higgins; Interview with Cat Stevens. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo.
In Darkness (Sony) Agnieszka Holland’s Ww II epic tells the true story of a sewer worker and petty thief in Nazi-occupied Poland who single-handedly helped hide a group of Jews in the city’s labyrinthine sewer system for the duration of the war.
- 6/5/2012
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
In a reprint of his 1958 review of Ingmar Bergman's Summer with Monika, Jean-Luc Godard wrote of the scene captured above (and previewed to the right) saying, "One must see Summer with Monika, if only for the extraordinary minutes when Harriet Andersson, about to sleep with a guy she has left once before, stares fixedly into the camera, her laughing eyes clouded with distress, and calls on the viewer to witness her self-loathing at involuntarily choosing hell over heaven. It is the saddest shot in the history of cinema." The full review is included in the 28-page booklet accompanying Criterion's new Blu-ray release of the film along with an essay by Laura Hubner (read it in full right here) whose interpretation of the shot reads as follows: The static shot of Monika's face is scandalously close up, and she looks steadfastly at us, breaking the cinematic illusion, as the screen darkens around her.
- 6/1/2012
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
#613 Summer Interlude (dir. Ingmar Bergman) 1951 // #614 Summer With Monika (dir. Ingmar Bergman) 1953 “Old age means ugliness. How lucky, Bergman murmurs to us, how lucky that the cinema exists to store up beauty.” - Jean-Luc Godard The Films (84/100): It is spectacularly strange to find a Superman reference in a film by Ingmar Bergman. Hearing someone mention the Man of Steel in 1951’s Summer Interlude makes for a jarring moment, like a (sadly hypothetical) allusion to Wam! in a late-era Tarkovsky movie -- the years line up, but it’s hard to believe that such things could ever co-exist. Superman had been an emerging global icon since Action Comics #1 dropped in 1938, but Bergman’s films, at least for a...
Read More...
Read More...
- 6/1/2012
- by David Ehrlich
- Movies.com
By Raymond Benson
The red carpet label Criterion Collection has continued its mining of classic foreign language films by releasing for the first time in the U.S. two pictures that first brought famed Swedish director Ingmar Bergman some attention. Summer Interlude (1951) and Summer with Monika (1953) are both fairly commercial love stories but with a slightly dark flair which only Bergman can produce. Both films are highly erotic (especially Monika) for the time, and these titles contributed to the notion in America that Sweden made sexy movies.
In fact, Summer with Monika was first released in the U.S. as a sexploitation film in 1956 by the self-proclaimed “world’s greatest showman,” Kroger Babb, an exhibitor/producer who specialized in low budget sleaze thinly disguised as “educational material for adults.” Babb re-cut Summer with Monika, added a dubbed English language soundtrack that had little to do with Bergman’s original, laid on a jazzy,...
The red carpet label Criterion Collection has continued its mining of classic foreign language films by releasing for the first time in the U.S. two pictures that first brought famed Swedish director Ingmar Bergman some attention. Summer Interlude (1951) and Summer with Monika (1953) are both fairly commercial love stories but with a slightly dark flair which only Bergman can produce. Both films are highly erotic (especially Monika) for the time, and these titles contributed to the notion in America that Sweden made sexy movies.
In fact, Summer with Monika was first released in the U.S. as a sexploitation film in 1956 by the self-proclaimed “world’s greatest showman,” Kroger Babb, an exhibitor/producer who specialized in low budget sleaze thinly disguised as “educational material for adults.” Babb re-cut Summer with Monika, added a dubbed English language soundtrack that had little to do with Bergman’s original, laid on a jazzy,...
- 5/30/2012
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Reviewer: Philip Tatler IV
Ratings (out of five):
Summer Interlude *** 1/2
Summer with Monika **** 1/2
Watching Ingmar Bergman’s Summer Interlude and Summer With Monika back-to-back has somewhat conflated the two films in my head. The films explore young love during the titular season and both are set in the wind-swept dreamland of Stockholm’s outer archipelago. However, there’s a sharp line that divides the Bergman of Interlude from the Bergman of Monika. Only two years (and one other film – 1952’s Secrets of Women) separate Bergman’s two Summers but it’s clear that that period represented a major shift in the august filmmaker’s sensibilities.
Ratings (out of five):
Summer Interlude *** 1/2
Summer with Monika **** 1/2
Watching Ingmar Bergman’s Summer Interlude and Summer With Monika back-to-back has somewhat conflated the two films in my head. The films explore young love during the titular season and both are set in the wind-swept dreamland of Stockholm’s outer archipelago. However, there’s a sharp line that divides the Bergman of Interlude from the Bergman of Monika. Only two years (and one other film – 1952’s Secrets of Women) separate Bergman’s two Summers but it’s clear that that period represented a major shift in the august filmmaker’s sensibilities.
- 5/29/2012
- by weezy
- GreenCine
Some directors are visual specialists. Look at Spielberg and his use of the close-up, known as the "Spielberg Face." Some are philosophers. Kubrick may be the best of that bunch. Some are aggressively provocative antagonists. No director is more polarizing than Godard. However, one director built his career on blending stark visuals with deep intellectual musing and the occasional religious provocation, wrapping it all up into a single canon that may very well be the deepest collection of films to ever be made by one filmmaker.
Read more on Blu-ray Review: Summer Interlude (The Criterion Collection)...
Other articles that you might like:
Blu-ray Review: Summer With Monika (The Criterion Collection) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Naked Blu-ray Review: The War Room [The Criterion Collection]
Other articles that you might like: Blu-ray Review: Summer With Monika (The Criterion Collection) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Naked Blu-ray Review: The War Room [The Criterion Collection]...
Read more on Blu-ray Review: Summer Interlude (The Criterion Collection)...
Other articles that you might like:
Blu-ray Review: Summer With Monika (The Criterion Collection) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Naked Blu-ray Review: The War Room [The Criterion Collection]
Other articles that you might like: Blu-ray Review: Summer With Monika (The Criterion Collection) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Naked Blu-ray Review: The War Room [The Criterion Collection]...
- 5/29/2012
- by Joshua Brunsting
- GordonandtheWhale
This week on The Video Score, some of last year's most critically acclaimed art house films finally hit video, in addition to two all-time classics from one of the greats.
Check out our rundown of this week's best releases below!
Pick of the Week
"We Need to Talk About Kevin" (2011)
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Cast: Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller
Story:
A tormented mother grapples with feelings of accountability and intense grief after her troubled 15-year-old son commits an act of violence that shakes their community to its very core.
On the Disc:
Oscilloscope has packed this disc full of need-to-watch features including a behind-the-scenes documentary, an interview with the source novel's author, and a highlight of Tilda Swinton from the Telluride Film Festival.
Reviews:
Rotten Tomatoes: 76%
Metacritic: 68
Where to get it
Amazon: Blu-ray - $26.24, DVD - $22.49
Apple: Digital Download - $14.99 (HD: $19.99) Digital Rental - $3.99 (HD: $4.99)
Netflix Instant: Not...
Check out our rundown of this week's best releases below!
Pick of the Week
"We Need to Talk About Kevin" (2011)
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Cast: Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller
Story:
A tormented mother grapples with feelings of accountability and intense grief after her troubled 15-year-old son commits an act of violence that shakes their community to its very core.
On the Disc:
Oscilloscope has packed this disc full of need-to-watch features including a behind-the-scenes documentary, an interview with the source novel's author, and a highlight of Tilda Swinton from the Telluride Film Festival.
Reviews:
Rotten Tomatoes: 76%
Metacritic: 68
Where to get it
Amazon: Blu-ray - $26.24, DVD - $22.49
Apple: Digital Download - $14.99 (HD: $19.99) Digital Rental - $3.99 (HD: $4.99)
Netflix Instant: Not...
- 5/29/2012
- by Kevin P. Sullivan
- MTV Movies Blog
There are no major blockbusters hitting DVD or Blu-ray this week, which means it's a good chance to catch a handful of interesting smaller films that you may have missed in theatres. The highest profile releases are the Amanda Seyfriend thriller Gone and Man on a Ledge starring Sam Worthington; although I can't speak for those, I can wholeheartedly recommend the Seann William Scott hockey comedy Goon and the overlooked drama We Need to Talk About Kevin starring Tilda Swinton. Other interesting indie films include Ralph Fiennes' Coriolanus and, from the director of The Last Exorcism, A Necessary Death. Criterion is also putting out Ingmar Bergman's Summer Interlude and Summer with Monika, and as for TV on DVD, the fourth season of True Blood arrives in stores today. Will you be buying or renting anything this week? Check out the full list of releases after the jump. Amazon.
- 5/29/2012
- by Sean
- FilmJunk
We Need to Talk About Kevin I placed this one #4 on my top ten of 2011 and it is one worth owning and I'm glad people can finally see it, even if you won't be able to enjoy it on the big screen where its effect is even that much greater. If you'd like to read my review from last year's Cannes Film Festival where it completely blew me away click here.
Summer Interlude and Summer with Monika
(Criterion Collection) I am going to have a review for these two early Bergman films shortly. I just finished watching the special features on Summer with Monika last night and, in a perfect world, will have a review for you later today.
As for the films, being a huge Bergman fan I loved watching them both. Neither deal much with Bergman's always fascinating exploration of religion, but his constant focus on life, death and love is felt.
Summer Interlude and Summer with Monika
(Criterion Collection) I am going to have a review for these two early Bergman films shortly. I just finished watching the special features on Summer with Monika last night and, in a perfect world, will have a review for you later today.
As for the films, being a huge Bergman fan I loved watching them both. Neither deal much with Bergman's always fascinating exploration of religion, but his constant focus on life, death and love is felt.
- 5/29/2012
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
This week: Sam Worthington plays a prison escapee who orchestrates an intricate heist while clinging to the outside of a tall building in the appropriately titled action thriller "Man on a Ledge."
Also new this week are the Amanda Seyfried thriller "Gone," the hockey-themed comedy "Goon" (no relation), and Ralph Fiennes' adaptation of Shakespeare's "Corionalus."
'Man on a Ledge'
Box Office: $19 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 31% Rotten
Storyline: An ex-cop (Sam Worthington) escapes from prison to prove his innocence and steal the $40 million diamond he was accused of swiping from a ruthless businessman (Ed Harris). With the world watching, he jumpstarts the heist from a precarious ledge of the Roosevelt Hotel as a disgraced negotiator (Elizabeth Banks) tries to talk him down and his brother (Jamie Bell) races against time to get the diamond.
Extras! Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain an odd feature: Banks giving funny commentary on the trailer.
Also new this week are the Amanda Seyfried thriller "Gone," the hockey-themed comedy "Goon" (no relation), and Ralph Fiennes' adaptation of Shakespeare's "Corionalus."
'Man on a Ledge'
Box Office: $19 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 31% Rotten
Storyline: An ex-cop (Sam Worthington) escapes from prison to prove his innocence and steal the $40 million diamond he was accused of swiping from a ruthless businessman (Ed Harris). With the world watching, he jumpstarts the heist from a precarious ledge of the Roosevelt Hotel as a disgraced negotiator (Elizabeth Banks) tries to talk him down and his brother (Jamie Bell) races against time to get the diamond.
Extras! Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain an odd feature: Banks giving funny commentary on the trailer.
- 5/28/2012
- by Robert DeSalvo
- NextMovie
Moviefone's New Release Pick of the Week "We Need to Talk About Kevin" What's It About? Tilda Swinton stars as the mother of Kevin (Ezra Miller), a disturbed young man who commits a violent Columbine-like school massacre. The film chronicles Kevin's upbringing and attempts to answer whether his mother's parenting is at fault. See It Because: While it's not an easy movie to watch -- lesser films would have laid on the Lifetime TV movie melodrama or tried to wrap it up with a simple answer -- "Kevin" is buoyed by a fantastic set of performances from mother and son. Swinton's chameleon-like ability to convey any character makes her one of the best actors working today, and the 19-year-old Miller deserves all of the critical kudos for his creepy breakout performance. Watch an Exclusive Clip from "We Need to Talk About Kevin" - (Also Available on Redbox | Amazon Instant Video...
- 5/25/2012
- by Eric Larnick
- Moviefone
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: May 29, 2012
Price: DVD $19.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Criterion
Birger Malmsten gets familiar with Maj-Britt Nilsson in Bergman's Summer Interlude.
The 1951 drama-romance Summer Interlude, Swedish master Ingmar Bergman’s (Summer with Monika) tenth film, touches on many of the themes that would define the rest of his legendary career—isolation, performance and the inescapability of the past.
In one of the director’s great early female roles, Maj-Britt Nilsson (To Joy) portrays Marie, an accomplished ballet dancer haunted by her tragic youthful affair with a shy, handsome student (Birger Malmsten, Thirst). Her memories of the rocky shores of Stockholm’s outer archipelago mingle with scenes from her gloomy present, most of them set in the dark backstage environs of the theater where she works.
When interviewed years later, Bergman said that he considered this classic reverie on life and death to be a creative turning point in his career.
Price: DVD $19.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Criterion
Birger Malmsten gets familiar with Maj-Britt Nilsson in Bergman's Summer Interlude.
The 1951 drama-romance Summer Interlude, Swedish master Ingmar Bergman’s (Summer with Monika) tenth film, touches on many of the themes that would define the rest of his legendary career—isolation, performance and the inescapability of the past.
In one of the director’s great early female roles, Maj-Britt Nilsson (To Joy) portrays Marie, an accomplished ballet dancer haunted by her tragic youthful affair with a shy, handsome student (Birger Malmsten, Thirst). Her memories of the rocky shores of Stockholm’s outer archipelago mingle with scenes from her gloomy present, most of them set in the dark backstage environs of the theater where she works.
When interviewed years later, Bergman said that he considered this classic reverie on life and death to be a creative turning point in his career.
- 3/16/2012
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Photos from John Carter, The Raven, Snow White and the Huntsman, Project X, The Amazing Spider-Man, and set photos of Jaden Smith shooting After Earth along with Van Damme shooting Welcome to the Jungle.
Posters for Wrath of the Titans, Marley, Lockout, and John Carter, the second season of Game of Thrones, and the novelisation of Snow White and the Huntsman.
"Liam Neeson is reportedly being lined up to play Lyndon B. Johnson in Lee Daniels' "The Butler", joining a cast that potentially includes John Cusack, Hugh Jackman, Mila Kunis and David Oyelowo…" (full details)
"Cirque du Soleil will deliver a one-time-only performance at the 84th Academy Awards, one that will feature the largest Cirque cast ever assembled for a single act and accompanied by music by Danny Elfman…" (full details)
"'Star Trek' actor Chris Pine is being subjected to a lawsuit by his former talent agency...
Posters for Wrath of the Titans, Marley, Lockout, and John Carter, the second season of Game of Thrones, and the novelisation of Snow White and the Huntsman.
"Liam Neeson is reportedly being lined up to play Lyndon B. Johnson in Lee Daniels' "The Butler", joining a cast that potentially includes John Cusack, Hugh Jackman, Mila Kunis and David Oyelowo…" (full details)
"Cirque du Soleil will deliver a one-time-only performance at the 84th Academy Awards, one that will feature the largest Cirque cast ever assembled for a single act and accompanied by music by Danny Elfman…" (full details)
"'Star Trek' actor Chris Pine is being subjected to a lawsuit by his former talent agency...
- 2/17/2012
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Dubbed “The Most Absurd Hollywood Movie Ever?”, the fantastic and trippy Spike Jonze fantasy film “Being John Malkovich” gets the headline Criterion Blu-ray treatment in May, packed full with some delightful extras.
Though I must say usually Criterion are absurdly spot on with their selection cover choice for each month but the Malkovich set isn’t the artwork I would have chosen. Sure it’s a fun idea but damnit I want my Being John Malkovich Blu-ray to be full of Malkovich’s in dresses and make-up.
Artwork is below;
Being John Malkovich’s Criterion Blu-ray comes with selective scene audio commentary from Michel Gondry (who had nothing to do with the movie except he is friends of writer Charlie Kaufman), two documentaries by collaborator Lance Bangs, two films-within-the film and a conversation between John Malkovich and humorist John Hodgman.
Sadly there’s no new Spike Jonze DVD commentary to add,...
Though I must say usually Criterion are absurdly spot on with their selection cover choice for each month but the Malkovich set isn’t the artwork I would have chosen. Sure it’s a fun idea but damnit I want my Being John Malkovich Blu-ray to be full of Malkovich’s in dresses and make-up.
Artwork is below;
Being John Malkovich’s Criterion Blu-ray comes with selective scene audio commentary from Michel Gondry (who had nothing to do with the movie except he is friends of writer Charlie Kaufman), two documentaries by collaborator Lance Bangs, two films-within-the film and a conversation between John Malkovich and humorist John Hodgman.
Sadly there’s no new Spike Jonze DVD commentary to add,...
- 2/17/2012
- by Matt Holmes
- Obsessed with Film
To celebrate Film4’s Ingmar Bergman season starting tonight, Monday July 4th, I decided to use the director as the first subject in this new regular weekly series of beginners guides for WhatCulture!
Ingmar Bergman is one of the most influential directors in the history of cinema. Thematically and stylistically his work lives on through various filmmakers such as Francis Ford Coppola, Pedro Almodovar and most famously Woody Allen. He began his career in his home country of Sweden, where he worked as a script writer for a production company in the early 1940’s. The company asked him to watch a regular dose of American films and copy the Hollywood way of script writing but Bergman, a young man with ambitions far greater than those around him, grew frustrated as the movies he had to watch all seemed fake and superficial to him. The narrative structures too linear, the characters...
Ingmar Bergman is one of the most influential directors in the history of cinema. Thematically and stylistically his work lives on through various filmmakers such as Francis Ford Coppola, Pedro Almodovar and most famously Woody Allen. He began his career in his home country of Sweden, where he worked as a script writer for a production company in the early 1940’s. The company asked him to watch a regular dose of American films and copy the Hollywood way of script writing but Bergman, a young man with ambitions far greater than those around him, grew frustrated as the movies he had to watch all seemed fake and superficial to him. The narrative structures too linear, the characters...
- 7/4/2011
- by Tom Ryan
- Obsessed with Film
To celebrate Film4’s Ingmar Bergman season starting tonight, Monday July 4th, I decided to use the director as the first subject in this new regular weekly series of beginners guides for WhatCulture!
Ingmar Bergman is one of the most influential directors in the history of cinema. Thematically and stylistically his work lives on through various filmmakers such as Francis Ford Coppola, Pedro Almodovar and most famously Woody Allen. He began his career in his home country of Sweden, where he worked as a script writer for a production company in the early 1940’s. The company asked him to watch a regular dose of American films and copy the Hollywood way of script writing but Bergman, a young man with ambitions far greater than those around him, grew frustrated as the movies he had to watch all seemed fake and superficial to him. The narrative structures too linear, the characters...
Ingmar Bergman is one of the most influential directors in the history of cinema. Thematically and stylistically his work lives on through various filmmakers such as Francis Ford Coppola, Pedro Almodovar and most famously Woody Allen. He began his career in his home country of Sweden, where he worked as a script writer for a production company in the early 1940’s. The company asked him to watch a regular dose of American films and copy the Hollywood way of script writing but Bergman, a young man with ambitions far greater than those around him, grew frustrated as the movies he had to watch all seemed fake and superficial to him. The narrative structures too linear, the characters...
- 7/4/2011
- by Tom Ryan
- Obsessed with Film
Cinematographer who brought a sensuous style to 12 of Ingmar Bergman's films
The Swedish cinematographer Gunnar Fischer, who has died aged 100, could be said to have created the "look" of Ingmar Bergman's films, crystallised in three of the director's masterpieces: Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries (both 1957). From Port of Call (1948) to The Devil's Eye (1960), 12 films in all, Fischer was able to make visible Bergman's visions.
He was born in Ljungby, in southern Sweden. After spending three years in the Swedish navy as a chef, he attended the Royal Academy of Art in Stockholm, where he studied with the celebrated decorative artist Otte Sköld. He had an apprenticeship in cinematography at Svensk Filmindustri (Sf), the country's leading production company. His mentor there was the cinematographer Julius Jaenzon, who worked with the two great masters of Swedish silent cinema, Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller. This...
The Swedish cinematographer Gunnar Fischer, who has died aged 100, could be said to have created the "look" of Ingmar Bergman's films, crystallised in three of the director's masterpieces: Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries (both 1957). From Port of Call (1948) to The Devil's Eye (1960), 12 films in all, Fischer was able to make visible Bergman's visions.
He was born in Ljungby, in southern Sweden. After spending three years in the Swedish navy as a chef, he attended the Royal Academy of Art in Stockholm, where he studied with the celebrated decorative artist Otte Sköld. He had an apprenticeship in cinematography at Svensk Filmindustri (Sf), the country's leading production company. His mentor there was the cinematographer Julius Jaenzon, who worked with the two great masters of Swedish silent cinema, Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller. This...
- 6/14/2011
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Updated.
"Gunnar Fischer, a cinematographer whose use of stark lighting and sharp focus lent mood and psychological depth to a dozen of Ingmar Bergman's early films, including The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries, died on Saturday in Stockholm," reports William Grimes for the New York Times. "He was 100."
"He is widely recognized as the first cinematographer to capture with unparalleled beauty the cruelty, sensuality and selfishness that often collided in the same scene among Bergman's anguished characters." Adam Bernstein: "Fischer's great skill was in monochrome,' or black and white, film historian and Bergman scholar Peter Cowie told The Washington Post in 2008. 'He gave Bergman's films that unique expressionistic look, with their brilliant contrasts in every gradation of black and white.' He translated Bergman's themes of emotional isolation, sexual anguish and fear of death into unforgettable images: cold Scandinavian sunlight sparkling off water in Summer Interlude (1951) and...
"Gunnar Fischer, a cinematographer whose use of stark lighting and sharp focus lent mood and psychological depth to a dozen of Ingmar Bergman's early films, including The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries, died on Saturday in Stockholm," reports William Grimes for the New York Times. "He was 100."
"He is widely recognized as the first cinematographer to capture with unparalleled beauty the cruelty, sensuality and selfishness that often collided in the same scene among Bergman's anguished characters." Adam Bernstein: "Fischer's great skill was in monochrome,' or black and white, film historian and Bergman scholar Peter Cowie told The Washington Post in 2008. 'He gave Bergman's films that unique expressionistic look, with their brilliant contrasts in every gradation of black and white.' He translated Bergman's themes of emotional isolation, sexual anguish and fear of death into unforgettable images: cold Scandinavian sunlight sparkling off water in Summer Interlude (1951) and...
- 6/14/2011
- MUBI
There are Tons of new releases this past week, and as my co-host and friend Travis George said, it was going to be a hell of a time to write these up for all of you people out there who want to know about Criterion’s blossoming Hulu Plus page. And as usual, I’m elated to tell you all about these films, especially if you want to join up to the service, which helps us keep this weekly article series going. I mean, come on, there’s an Ingmar Bergman film that’s not in the collection yet! More on that at the end of the article. So let’s get right to it then.
The epic film The Human Condition (1959) has been put up, separated into three videos. Parts 1 & 2, Parts 3 & 4 and Parts 5 & 6 are there for your ease of watching, so if you have 574 minutes to kill watching the...
The epic film The Human Condition (1959) has been put up, separated into three videos. Parts 1 & 2, Parts 3 & 4 and Parts 5 & 6 are there for your ease of watching, so if you have 574 minutes to kill watching the...
- 6/12/2011
- by James McCormick
- CriterionCast
Sad news tonight folks. Longtime Ingmar Bergman collaborator, Gunnar Fischer, has passed away earlier today at the ripe old age of 100. I just saw the Masters Of Cinema twitter feed posting a link to this Swedish web site (HD.se), announcing that he had died earlier today in Sweden.
From the translated story:
Gunnar Fischer out of time
The photographer and film director Gunnar Fischer died on Saturday, 100 years old.
Stockholm. He worked closely with Ingmar Bergman in the 50′s in classic films such as Summer with Monika, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries and The Magician.
- He passed away in the afternoon. This fall, he would have turned 101 years, says his son and cinematographer Jens Fischer said.
Gunnar Fischer was employed by the Swedish Film Industry 1935-1970 and the 1970-75 Svt.
Fischer‘s cinematography is well represented in the Criterion Collection. You can find him working with Bergman early...
From the translated story:
Gunnar Fischer out of time
The photographer and film director Gunnar Fischer died on Saturday, 100 years old.
Stockholm. He worked closely with Ingmar Bergman in the 50′s in classic films such as Summer with Monika, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries and The Magician.
- He passed away in the afternoon. This fall, he would have turned 101 years, says his son and cinematographer Jens Fischer said.
Gunnar Fischer was employed by the Swedish Film Industry 1935-1970 and the 1970-75 Svt.
Fischer‘s cinematography is well represented in the Criterion Collection. You can find him working with Bergman early...
- 6/12/2011
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish director considered one of the most influential and acclaimed filmmakers of modern cinema, died at his home in Faro, Sweden, on Monday; he was 89. The death was announced by the Swedish news agency TT and confirmed by Bergman's daughter, Eva, and Astrid Soderbergh Widding, president of The Ingmar Bergman Foundation, though an official cause of death was not yet given. Nominated for nine Academy Awards throughout his career and honored with the Irving G. Thalberg award in 1971, Bergman was cited as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, with his bleak, unsparing yet highly emotional explorations of the human psyche and its relation to life, sex, and death, in both highly symbolic and intensely personal films; he most notably influenced Woody Allen, who considered him the greatest of filmmakers. His images ranged from the stark black-and-white of films like The Seventh Seal to those awash in dreadful reds such as Cries and Whispers and the holiday warmth of Fanny and Alexander, his last film for the cinema. Born in Uppsala, Sweden in 1918, Bergman was the son of a Lutheran minister, and religious imagery as well as the tumultuous relationship between his parents would pervade his work. Though growing up in an extremely strict and devout family, Bergman lost his faith at an early age and grappled with the concept of the existence of God in many of his early films. Bergman discovered the magic of imagery at the age of nine with a magic lantern, for which he would create his own characters and scenery, and this love of light and images brought him to the theater world after a brief stint at the University of Stockholm. Bergman worked in both theater and film throughout the 1940s, as part of the script department of Svensk Filmindustri and as a director and producer for numerous small theater companies. His first script to be produced was the 1944 film Torment, and began as a director with small movies that allowed him to hone his craft; among his notable earlier works were Prison, Summer Interlude, and Sawdust and Tinsel.
Bergman came to the fore of the international cinematic community with the 1955 film Smiles of a Summer Night, his classic melancholy comedy about the romantic entanglements of three 19th century couples during a weekend at a country estate. The film propelled him to stardom and won him a a Cannes Film Festival award for "Best Poetic Humor" (it was also later adapted by Stephen Sondheim into the musical A Little Night Music). He established his legacy and reputation with his next two films: The Seventh Seal, featuring the now-iconic imagery of Death playing chess with a tortured medieval knight (Max Von Sydow), and Wild Strawberries, the study of an aged professor (played by Victor Sjostrom) revisiting his youth and his darkest fears as he drives through the Swedish countryside. Both films were phenomenal critical and box office successes, with Wild Strawberries earning Bergman his first Oscar nomination, for Best Screenplay. Bergman's The Virgin Spring, the grim fable about two parents exacting revenge on their daughter's murderers, won the Best Foreign Language film Oscar in 1961. He followed up that film with a trilogy of films -- Through a Glass Darkly (another Foreign Language Film Oscar winner), Winter Light and The Silence -- in which he grappled most powerfully with his lack of faith and belief in the power of love.
Making as many failures as he did successes, Bergman found favor with a number of films throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including the now-famous Persona, Hour of the Wolf, The Passion of Anna, Cries and Whispers (a nominee for Best Picture), Scenes from a Marriage, The Magic Flute, and Autumn Sonata. Throughout his films he used an ensemble of actors, most notably Max von Sydow, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Ingrid Thulin, Bibi Andersson, Harriet Andersson, Erland Josephson and Liv Ullman, with whom he had a personal relationship and a child. He also almost always worked with the legendary cinematographer Sven Nykvist, who won two Oscars for Cries and Whispers and 1982's Fanny and Alexander. It was that latter film that Bergman declared to be his final cinematic work, an intimate portrait of brother and sister set in early 20th century Sweden that was originally conceived as a four part TV film, and was released in the US at a truncated 188 minutes. It won four Oscars, including Best Foreign Language Film. Though he officially "retired" from the film industry after Fanny and Alexander, Bergman made films for Swedish television, continued to direct theatrically (including a version of Hamlet in Swedish that traveled to the US) and wrote screenplays that were filmed by other directors, including Bille August, Bergman's son Daniel, and actress and former lover Liv Ullman. His last work as director was Saraband, a revisitation of the two lead characters (Ullman and Jospehson) from Scenes from a Marriage. Bergman was married five times, and his fifth wife, Ingrid von Rosen, passed away in 1995. He is survived by nine children from his past marriages and relationships. At press time, a funeral date had not yet been set. --Mark Englehart, IMDb staff...
Bergman came to the fore of the international cinematic community with the 1955 film Smiles of a Summer Night, his classic melancholy comedy about the romantic entanglements of three 19th century couples during a weekend at a country estate. The film propelled him to stardom and won him a a Cannes Film Festival award for "Best Poetic Humor" (it was also later adapted by Stephen Sondheim into the musical A Little Night Music). He established his legacy and reputation with his next two films: The Seventh Seal, featuring the now-iconic imagery of Death playing chess with a tortured medieval knight (Max Von Sydow), and Wild Strawberries, the study of an aged professor (played by Victor Sjostrom) revisiting his youth and his darkest fears as he drives through the Swedish countryside. Both films were phenomenal critical and box office successes, with Wild Strawberries earning Bergman his first Oscar nomination, for Best Screenplay. Bergman's The Virgin Spring, the grim fable about two parents exacting revenge on their daughter's murderers, won the Best Foreign Language film Oscar in 1961. He followed up that film with a trilogy of films -- Through a Glass Darkly (another Foreign Language Film Oscar winner), Winter Light and The Silence -- in which he grappled most powerfully with his lack of faith and belief in the power of love.
Making as many failures as he did successes, Bergman found favor with a number of films throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including the now-famous Persona, Hour of the Wolf, The Passion of Anna, Cries and Whispers (a nominee for Best Picture), Scenes from a Marriage, The Magic Flute, and Autumn Sonata. Throughout his films he used an ensemble of actors, most notably Max von Sydow, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Ingrid Thulin, Bibi Andersson, Harriet Andersson, Erland Josephson and Liv Ullman, with whom he had a personal relationship and a child. He also almost always worked with the legendary cinematographer Sven Nykvist, who won two Oscars for Cries and Whispers and 1982's Fanny and Alexander. It was that latter film that Bergman declared to be his final cinematic work, an intimate portrait of brother and sister set in early 20th century Sweden that was originally conceived as a four part TV film, and was released in the US at a truncated 188 minutes. It won four Oscars, including Best Foreign Language Film. Though he officially "retired" from the film industry after Fanny and Alexander, Bergman made films for Swedish television, continued to direct theatrically (including a version of Hamlet in Swedish that traveled to the US) and wrote screenplays that were filmed by other directors, including Bille August, Bergman's son Daniel, and actress and former lover Liv Ullman. His last work as director was Saraband, a revisitation of the two lead characters (Ullman and Jospehson) from Scenes from a Marriage. Bergman was married five times, and his fifth wife, Ingrid von Rosen, passed away in 1995. He is survived by nine children from his past marriages and relationships. At press time, a funeral date had not yet been set. --Mark Englehart, IMDb staff...
- 7/30/2007
- IMDb News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.